Avi Marie's Arc

Chapter 25 of 30

The marked master held the ledger high and called for witnesses. Servants moved toward the great doors to bring the watching crowd inside. Through the tall windows, Avi Marie saw them still gathered on the steps, faces pressed to the glass. Those faces were her only shield. The masters would not silence her while a whole realm watched. The lead master saw it too. He raised one hand. "Seal the doors," he said. "This account is for the council alone." The servants stopped. They turned from the crowd and pushed the heavy doors shut. The latch dropped with a deep sound. Outside, the faces vanished behind wood. The bright hall grew smaller and colder. Avi Marie felt her shield fall away. In a closed room, the account meant nothing. The masters could break the marked one, take the ledger back, and no one would ever know. "He wants us alone," Azrael said, low at her side. "Open the doors." He cut off. But Avi Marie's power was gone at this height. She could not force the latch. She looked to Petra. Petra had already moved. She stood near the sealed doors, one hand flat on the wood. She did not shout. "They can hear the bell," she said. Avi Marie followed her eyes. Above the doors hung an old stone frame, and inside it a single bell. It was made for calling the realm to worship. A rope ran down the wall beside it. Petra reached the rope before the servants understood. She pulled it hard, twice. The bell rang out over the closed hall. The sound passed through the walls, through the sealed doors, out to the steps and beyond. Every ear in the realm heard it. The masters had shut the doors, but they could not shut the sound. The lead master turned white. "Stop her." Two servants ran at Petra. Azrael stepped between them and struck one down with his shoulder. Petra pulled the rope again. Outside, voices rose. Fists pounded on the wood. The crowd on the steps had heard the bell and now demanded the doors. The marked master lifted the ledger over the ringing. "Open them," he said. "Or I read every name to the ones outside through the door." The lead master looked at his own servants, then at the pounding wood. He could not win this in a closed room now. The whole realm knew the bell. He gave the smallest nod. The servants drew back the latch. The doors swung wide. The crowd poured up the steps and filled the entry. Cold air rushed in. Faces looked from the marked master to the ledger to Avi Marie. The room was open again, and the eyes were back. But the marked master still held her proof. He climbed the raised floor and opened the book before them all. "I will read it," he said. "From the beginning."